Expostulation & Reply: The Doctor's contemplation
by BritishAlien
Summary: Based on 'Expostulation and Reply' The Doctor contemplates the need for progression and relinquishes his own technological advancement for somewhere a great deal simpler. One shot. Thank you for reading. xxx


Expostulation and Reply

After reading a poem called 'Expostulation and Reply' by Wordsworth, I had an urge to write this short story. The ramblings are my own, whilst the inspiration is purely Wordsworth. One shot. Hope you enjoy :D x

-x-x-x-

A blue box stood peacefully by the edge of a large lake that stretched beyond the horizon. Its reflection danced on the surface of the water and the skies were filled with clouds, anticipation housed in their wispy structures.

A young girl stepped out of the box and stared into the watery depths. She looked around. A windy moor. A tired light shone over the dreary, calm hillsides that surrounded the shimmering lake. A stark wind wandered over this quiet place and for the first time, silence seemed broken.

A large rock stood tall and strong against the rugged landscape. Atop the mighty boulder sat a small man staring out over the vast lake. His brow furrowed and his piercing eyes focused upon something far into the distance. Something that Ace thought only the Doctor could see. He had been out here for half the day now. He sat upon the great stone that stood so proudly and yet so alone on the shore. From the top of the jagged rock, his feet barely touched the floor. His hat lay on his lap and his masterful umbrella was clenched in his right hand, seemingly in case he needed to leave his contemplation for the world that Ace wanted to return to.

Ace made her way along the stony shore line, the ground crunching beneath her feet. She reached the great rock and stared up at the Doctor, who seemed not to notice her arrival.

'Professor? Can we go now?' Ace moaned. It's not that she minded the Doctor's little jaunts, but too much of a good thing….

'Quiet Ace!' His soft Scottish burr replied over the cry of the wind, before returning to his thoughts. Ace moved forward, grabbing the hat from his lap and placing it on her head.

'Where are we anyway?'

'Esthwaite Lake. The Lake District. Earth year: 1845.' He replied, sounding slightly agitated.

'And why are we here?'

'To think. Have you noticed the silence here? Just that smooth nothingness you hear when all is calm.' The Doctor closed his eyes and listened to the quiet.

'You can think aboard the TARDIS. You can think anywhere and anytime. Let's get back to fighting monsters and blowing up space ships.' Ace reminded him. Sometimes the Doctor would distance himself too much, and she'd feel lost. The Doctor's eyes snapped open and for the first time all day, he turned his head and stared at Ace.

'But don't you think we do too much fighting monsters and blowing up space ships? We never sit back and just…take in the universe for what it truly is.' The Doctor seemed to be talking about an old friend when he referred to the vast expanse of space.

'I very much doubt this is the best of what the universe can offer. Yeah, it's pretty, but I bet there's nicer places.' Ace retorted, picking up a shingle from the stone shore and throwing it in to the lake.

'It's the calm nature. The serenity of this quiet place. Wordsworth once wrote a poem about this spot. Expostulation and Reply. A conversation between a pioneer of industry and supposed progress, whilst the other sits and contemplates and yet is doing just as much for the betterment of mankind. If not more.'

'How'd he figure that one out?' Ace smirked. She'd never liked all that expressive poetry. Dead boring. Blowing up stuff was way more exciting.

'Well, the first man asks 'Why, William, sit you thus alone, And dream your time away?' That man represents work and human progress through industrial revolution and something being seen to be physically conquering the unknown. He seems to be the man who strives for the future and leaves the past behind. And he's angry. He questions why William just whiles his time away, thinking. Just as you have been.' The Doctor now turned fully to stare at Ace. His eyes bore into hers. Past the thin layer that kept everybody out. The thing that protected her from the rest of the world and hid her deepest fears and regrets. He seemed to be staring past that, at the real Ace. 'The second man, William, says 'Think you, mid all this mighty sum Of things for ever speaking, That nothing of itself will come, But we must still be seeking?' He's the one searching and pushing back the barriers of what urban life has put in front of societies such as your own. Hiding in the midst of technological advancement and forgetting the beauty that you've left in your shadow as you've gone on to discover supposedly brighter things. He states that even when we appear to be doing nothing, we are in fact celebrating through emotion what has been left to us. We have been left a treasure chest full of glorious things and yet we dare not break the lock.' The Doctor had never seemed so determined towards a cause. He had moved his left hand to rest on Ace's shoulder. She had been pulled into his world. The world on the rock that over looked Esthwaite Lake. He was right. Wordsworth was right. Well that certainly was a turn up for the books. Everything need not be dedicated to an extreme view of the future, but the simplest of things can do exactly the same. Sitting and watching the water as it crashed against the shore. The clouds that hung over them like evil spirits and yet blessed them. Ace brought the Doctor's hand down and held it in her own.

'That's all well and good Professor, but why don't we take a step back? There are worlds out there, planets you've talked about, which sound so beautiful. The treasure map which leads us forward, let's break the seal. Earth is my home and always shall be, but that's where the adventures begin. Let's go to places nobody has been to before, so that we can leave behind the need to sit back and reflect on the past, just as Wordsworth did. ' Ace replied. The Doctor's hand closed around her own. He smiled.

'Time to be off.' He leapt off the mighty rock, using his umbrella as propulsion. He removed his hat from Ace's head and placed it on his own. Placing his arm around the young girl's shoulders, he guided her to the small blue box that sat so proudly on the bank of Esthwaite Lake and then….everywhere.

-x-x-x-

Thank you for reading.


End file.
